Cars

Petrol engined Mahindra XUV500 crossover to be exported from the second half of 2013

One of the biggest success for Mahindra in recent times has been the XUV500 crossover. The XUV500, which is a big leap for the Indian car and utility vehicle maker comes with class leading features at a value price tag, a killer combination for a market like India. Apart from being the best selling luxury SUV in India with more than 4,000 examples of the XUV500 hitting Indian roads each month, Mahindra also exports this crossover to many countries across the world. However, all the XUV500s that are currently exported come with a single, turbo diesel engine option.

2012 Mahindra XUV500 Crossover

This has meant that Mahindra is yet to make a foray into many export markets across the world, markets which favor petrol engined SUVs. To tap into this market, Mahindra is developing a petrol powered model of the XUV500 Crossover, and this variant is expected to be launched in export markets in the second half of 2013. Mahindra does sell a petrol powered Scorpio in export markets. The Scorpio Petrol features a 2.2 Liter Turbo Petrol engine, which is essentially a turbo charged petrol variant of the 2.2 Liter mHawk block.

The 2.2 Liter mHawk based turbo petrol engine is a slow revving motor with both the power and torque figures coming at much lower rpms that most other comparable petrol engines and this can be attributed to the fact that this turbo petrol engine has its origins in a diesel motor. The 2.2 Liter turbo petrol engine churns out 156 Bhp of peak power at 4,500 rpm while peak torque that comes in from 1,800 to 3,000 rpm is rated at 280 Nm. This engine is also expected to power the petrol variant of the Quanto compact SUV, which like the XUV500 petrol will also be sold in export markets.

All said, Mahindra does not have any plans of launching the petrol powered XUV500 crossover in India given the fact that petrol powered SUVs have very few takers in India. The XUV500 that is sold in India comes with a 2.2 Liter turbo diesel engine that outputs 140 Bhp of peak power and 330 Nm of peak torque. This engine is mated to a 6 speed manual transmission with Mahindra not having plans of launching an automatic gearbox equipped XUV500 in the next one year at least. The crossover features a monocoque body and comes with a range of features and creature comforts.